Sweden will create a leading international environment for collaboration on AI

Countries that are successful in utilizing, applying and realizing the benefits of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and simultaneously managing the risks, will gain significant competitive advantages in the global market. AI will also help make the public sector more efficient and relevant. For these reasons, Sweden is setting up a leading international environment for collaboration on Artificial Intelligence (AI), thereby developing and accelerating the application of AI in society.

“This is a very exciting day for both Sweden and Gothenburg, as we present the country’s mobilization plan in the field of AI. It will significantly strengthen our country and companies’ competitiveness in many areas. We are now taking decisive steps to make Sweden a global leader in AI that attracts the brightest minds in the field via collaboration between academia, industry and the public sector,” says Peter Eriksson, Minister for Digital Development.

Through this initiative, a broad spectrum of organizations from industry, the public sector, healthcare, and academia demonstrate their intention to collaborate on establishing a Data Factory & Arena in Sweden that will accelerate AI-related applied research and innovation. The intention is also for there to be collaboration with international leaders in Artificial Intelligence.

The AI Data Factory & Arena will strengthen existing, planned and future Swedish initiatives in AI (e.g. WASP, Vinnova, and projects already underway in academia and industry). The goals are to:

• Create a dynamic, world-class environment where access to large amounts of unique and interesting data will attract academic and industrial researchers, as well as research institutes
• Provide a hub in applied AI-related projects and in generating data for academia, industry and public services 
• Facilitate cross-fertilization of AI expertise between different areas of application
• Develop methods and an infrastructure for, in a controlled and reliable way, managing large quantities of data and successfully training AI algorithms
• Maintain a high international profile and collaborate with existing and planned Swedish AI ventures 

The arena will be open to both individuals and teams from academia, industry and the public sector who are involved in AI-related research and innovation activities in any of the following areas:

• Technical products and systems
• Finance and business administration
• Life sciences, healthcare and medicine
• Public administration, law, humanities (including ethics), and art.

What makes this initiative so unique is its broad scope of application areas. It also co-locates  applied AI projects with a data factory. The initiative will create opportunities to accelerate research and innovation by providing access to unique data and facilitating collaboration. It will also facilitate sharing of both resources and ideas across a wide range of application areas.

The initiative will be set up in Gothenburg at Lindholmen Science Park, which will also host this open collaborative environment and advanced infrastructure for data and technology.

Inauguration is planned for the third quarter of 2018.